Kukla's Korner Hockey

If you lost 18% of your income would you be happy? I can honestly say that I am more stressed about money now then when I was in college.

I can’t explain it and I never thought it would be the case but it is true. $ in no way makes u more happy or makes life much easier.

If you don’t make a lot of money I don’t expect u to understand in the same way I could never understand what it is like to risk my life daily as a fire fighter or police officer…especially not a soldier. There r pros and cons to every profession. U r kidding yourself if u think money makes things any easier.

Comments

No doubt there’s stress and pitfalls with making a lot of money. But I won’t lose one second of sleep worrying about Dan Ellis’s money woe’s.
A wise man once told me that 99% of the stress we feel in our life is controllable, or created on our own. And it’s so true.

Right now I live paycheck to paycheck. And I mean that literally. If my wife wants to buy a sandwich for lunch, she needs to consult our budget first to make sure we have enough in our bank account.
With 2 small kids and a mortgage, and in today’s bad economy, if I were to lose my job, we’d lose our house and cars.

If Mr.Ellis is stressing about money, I imagine it’s because he’s stressed about keeping all the thousands, or millions, he’s going to earn. Or that he’s worried he won’t be able to maintain his current lifestyle.

Even after taxes, Ellis stands to NET nearly 1 million dollars this year. If someone handed me $1M I would never have to work again. EVER. I know this because I have financial planners in my family. You can buy yourself a ‘modest’ $250K home and live off the earnings from the rest of the cash.

Again, I don’t believe I’ll ever know the stresses that Dan Ellis is talking about. But right now, I’d be willing to take on his current money problems over mine.
Not knowing if I’ll have a job next week, and therefore a roof to put over my childrens heads is certainly a problem Dan will never have to worry about this year.
And if he does? Well that’s his problem. Nobody making $1.5M US for 10 months of work should ever worry about putting food on the table or having a bed to sleep in. If you are, it’s your own fault.

That said, if I lost 18% of my income I would be stressed out. With both my wife and I working in the education field, that is a distinct possibility.

LOL. I didn’t realize he twittered about his new car purchase.

And I get what you’re saying regarding the price cut. However, if you’re making 50K and lose 18% chances are you’re standard of living is going to get hit hard.
But if you were making $1.8M and lost 18%, there’s a real possibility you’re still living in a great house, driving a great car and not worrying about whether or not you can afford to take your kids to two movies in 3 months. Essentially, your standard of living hasn’t really gone down. You just might not be able to buy another gold plated toothbrush.

This is when pro athletes need to learn to shut their mouths. Average people will never understand the woes of making millions of dollars to play a game most of us PAY to play. So don’t start now.
Keep your money problems between yourself and your rich accountant.
If Dan Ellis has an IQ higher than 80, he should never have to worry about the every day money worries that 99% of the population endures on a daily basis.
Even the most conservative financial plan should make sure his grandkids will never have to worry about missing a mortgage payment.

Posted by
mrfluffy
from A wide spot on I-90 in Montana on 09/07/10 at 11:39 AM ET

I follow Dan Ellis on Twitter, and generally he does make for good reads, and is worth listening too, or reading. He was speaking his mind, which is allowed, and i’m trying to put myself in his shoes to see where he’s coming from.

i think the main thing is that, regardless if you make $5mill, $100 thousand, or $25 thousand, most people do live outside their means, and are hanging on to a little thread. I know that can be stressful, and you feel like you can lose it at any moment. All i can think is that Dan sees his co-workers (team mates) living a way and thinks he can do the same.

If Dan Ellis has an IQ higher than 80, he should never have to worry about the every day money worries that 99% of the population endures on a daily basis.

A wise man once told me that 99% of the stress we feel in our life is controllable, or created on our own. And it’s so true.

I don’t think Dan Ellis was saying that he has it necessarily bad, just that the concept of losing 18% of your planned income sucks, no matter which bracket you’re in.

I’ve seen a lot of comments from people along the lines of “if I was making Dan Ellis’ money, I wouldn’t be complaining about a mere 18%.” and I think that’s bullshit. You better damn believe I’d complain about a pay cut.

As for the worry about losing your job at any moment, Ellis has that hanging over him too. Yes, he has the savings necessary to ensure they’ll never go on welfare if he destroys a knee, goes on unconditional waivers, and gets medically retired from hockey, but it’s still a stressful thought. It’s marginally scarier for the pro athletes who are simply playing a game for your enjoyment because their earnings window is so narrow. He probably does have a financial plan in place, that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach when people come calling for your paycheck, nor does it make it fair.

I understand where you’re coming from JJ from Kansas.
But his money worries are nothing like mine. Like I said, if he’s only half brain-dead he’ll never have to worry about money again. That’s a luxery 99% of the population won’t ever enjoy.

Dan Ellis will never have to worry about money if Dan Ellis doesn’t want to. Who else can say the same?
The problems he faces as a pro athlete are different and come with their own pitfalls. But I’ll still take his problems over mine any day of the week.

I hear athletes complain all the time about their money woes and yet I don’t see any of them quitting to become a construction worker anytime soon.

All of his ‘problems’ are in his own head and completely under his control.

Sorry, one last point.
I agree with Kansas that we’d all be complaining about losing 18%. It’s human nature to complain. Especially when you already have a lot of money.

However, Ellis went out of his way to complain to a throng of people who probably struggle to pay for one night at the Forum.

I’d probably complain but I would hope to keep my bitching to my wife, buddies and my financial adviser. Certainly not the people who scrape and struggle to buy a ticket so I can make more money than they’ll ever see in a lifetime.

Dan Ellis took to a public forum to whine and moan about taking a pay cut so that he’s only making 1.5M compared to 1.8M.
To most hard working people, who face losing a crappy job that probably pays 3% of that, it’s not going to fly too well.
Ellis would be wise to air his money grievances in private.

That’s true, but apparently 99% of all of people’s problems are in their own heads and completely under their control; that doesn’t stop anybody from complaining, nor should it.

I mean, that’s what it’s about isn’t it? It’s about Dan Ellis’ right to complain relative to anybody else’s, right?

Absolutely not.
But that also includes everyone else’s right to bitch and moan about a millionare complaining about his finances.

I see on his twitter page he’s already trying to apply some damage control. Is he seriously surprised by the backlash?
Perhaps he doesn’t have an IQ higher than 80. In that case, he should be worried about his finances.

P.S. I bitch and moan all the time about nonsense. But I don’t use Twitter to cry foul to a bunch of people that wouldn’t care anyways.

I mean, that’s what it’s about isn’t it? It’s about Dan Ellis’ right to complain relative to anybody else’s, right?

Sure he can complain, but I think the problem is who he’s complaining to.

If you’re a guy who took an 18% pay cut and is still going to make a million and a half dollars this year, maybe you shouldn’t be complaining to the people who are following you on twitter because they’re living vicariously through a millionaire that they’re a fan of.

Join the celebrity twitter website and complain to the millionaire actors who are making $20 million per movie, maybe that’s when you’ll get a little sympathy.

You’re barking up the wrong tree if you’re complaining about getting paid more than a million dollars per season to play hockey. Most people who are following Dan Ellis would give just about anything to play for league minimum in the NHL.

He’s complaining about a pay cut. In which he still makes more than a milliond dollars.

So yeah, he kinda is.

Posted by Garth on 09/07/10 at 01:04 PM ET

So the problem is that he’s complaining while making more than a million dollars. See? You should have said that in the first place. I didn’t know that there was a certain pay threshold at which you’re no longer allowed to complain about unfair things.

I guess money can’t buy everything. It can buy cars and houses and food, but it can’t buy love, and it can’t buy an expectation to be treated fairly by those even wealthier than you are.